By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Back in the olden days of the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers volleyball team, they entered matches hoping to win.
These days those expectations have changed. The Lady Tigers not only still hope to win, but the success by the current edition makes them expect to win and it is disappointing when they come away with anything less.
Even though T.R. Miller beat Laurel Hill (Fla.) 25-21, 25-14 in Monday's front end of a tri-match at Andalusia, the Lady Tigers left the facility with a bit of an empty feeling when they later lost to the host school 25-16, 26-24.
The loss to Andalusia snapped the Lady Tigers' school record seven-game winning streak.
Despite a pair of two-point strings points by Terri Lynne Peacock and later a four-point string by Vivian Muth, T.R. Miller (14-8) was unable to climb out of a 19-8 hole it dug in the opening set.
It looked as if the Lady Tigers had corrected their first set mistakes in the second set when they built a 10-4 lead on the strength of a four-point string by Rebecca Scott.
Things quickly went downhill when a defenisve point and an 11-point service string by Andalusia's Aleeishia Staley put the Lady Bulldogs in front 16-10.
The serving of Leslie Nalty and the hitting of Joy McCorvey brought T.R. Miller back. Nalty came off the bench and served up five points in a row with the aid of four kills by McCorvey to tie the set at 24-24.
A defensive point and a tipped ball for a point quickly won the game for Andalusia.
Earlier T.R. Miller shook off a pesky Laurel Hill squad.
The Lady Tigers led virtually the entire first set, but still only had a 19-18 advantage. T.R. Miller was able to hang on with a pair of points by Shandreka Foster, a pair of defensive points, a missed serve by Laurel Hill and a tipped ball for a point by McCorvey.
Dominant serving by Terri Lynne Peacock carried the Lady Tigers to victory in set two. Peacock began the set with eight straight points and ended it with 10 in a row.